John Lister

Microsoft is launching its own dedicated retail stores in hopes the move will allow them more scope for hands-on demonstrations of products. David Porter, a former executive from Wal-Mart and DreamWorks, has been hired to oversee the project. Porter ... will not only be in charge of the design and operation of stores, but must find suitable locations for the 'small number' of stores which Microsoft plans to open at first. The firm says "The purpose of opening these stores is to create deeper engagement with consumers and continue to learn firsthand about what they want and how they buy." (Source ... (view more)

Plans to delay the mandatory switch-off of America's analog TV signals became official last night when Barack Obama signed the bill into law. But around a third of stations are still expected to voluntarily switch to all-digital broadcasts as early ... as next week, throwing the timetable for wireless Internet expansion into more confusion. The switch-off was originally scheduled for next Tuesday, but the deadline is now June 12. The major networks don't plan to switch off nationwide immediately, but some local affiliates are among the 681 stations which have already applied to go all-digital on ... (view more)

The makers of the Firefox browser have officially joined the legal battle being waged by European regulators against Microsoft's tactics over Internet Explorer. But the man behind the latest Firefox edition says there's no need to include rival ... browsers in Windows. The European Commission has formally accepted a request from Mozilla to submit documents to its investigation over Microsoft's potential antitrust violations in bundling Internet Explorer with Windows. The move comes at a very late stage: the Commission has already made a ruling in principle against Microsoft and is currently ... (view more)

Microsoft has agreed to tweak the User Account Control (UAC) system in Windows 7 to avoid an inherent security risk . During the production of Windows 7 , Microsoft decided to change the default UAC so that it no longer asks for confirmation when a ... user adjusts his or her Windows settings. Security experts suggest that these settings include UAC itself, meaning rogue software could turn this protection off completely without the user knowing. Microsoft argued that this was not a true vulnerability because one can only take advantage by getting the victim to run the rogue software; for example ... (view more)

Google has reached a deal with IBM to enhance its medical data system, Google Health. IBM will provide technology to allow users to update their records in real-time through Internet-connected medical devices. The technology involves fitting WiFi ... radio connections to tools such as heart rate monitors or blood sugar measurement meters. The data will then sync with their computer and automatically update their records in the Google Health service. The scheme, announced in 2007 and formally launched in May last year, allows users to store their medical records online and import details from ... (view more)

You may have thought Google extending its mapping services to cover the night skies the ultimate in its universal expansion. But you'd be wrong: now the Google Earth service is going underwater, on to Mars and even back in time. The newest edition, ... Google Earth 5, has just launched and includes detailed information about the oceans for the first time. Previous editions had simply shown a blue patch in the appropriate areas, with the only detail being darker shading to show the deeper points. Given that most of the world is underwater, that was something of an obstacle to a firm that's often ... (view more)

The security researcher who recently discovered an especially sneaky way of spreading spyware online says Internet Explorer 8 will have "zero impact" on the problem. It comes as attacks using the 'clickjacking' technique spread to other browsers. ... 'Clickjacking' lures users into clicking on a button that at first appears legitimate but actually does something altogether nasty. The usual way of doing this is to hijack a legitimate web page and use frames to overlay it with a transparent web page. This means victims are actually clicking on a button they can't see, which will usually 'authorize ... (view more)

According to a UCLA professor, today's kids might use their brains much differently than children in previous generations. The findings could mean that current teaching and testing methods are ineffective in estimating their intelligence. Patricia ... Greenfield looked at more than 50 studies of technology's effects on children. She found that media such as television and video games do limit some aspects of their mental skills, but also help improve them in other ways. Tests over the last 50 years show a clear and consistent increase in visual reasoning skills. These involve seeing information ... (view more)

A security firm is warning Mac users to steer clear of pirated versions of Photoshop after discovering a virus in a version available for illegal downloading. It's a variant of the same virus that hit pirated copies of iWork last week. This version ... of the virus works in an even more sneaky way -- it isn't in the program itself. Instead, it works because Photoshop is available to download in full as a time-limited free trial. The pirated copy includes all the original files, but also has an application known as a 'crack', designed to remove the time-limit and leave users with a fully- ... (view more)

According to reports, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Kevin Martin, is on his way out. It could spell an end for controversial plans to create a nationwide free wireless broadband system. It was widely expected that newly ... elected President Barack Obama would have replaced Martin as chairman upon taking office. (Martin would have remained as one of the five commissioners as that position was guaranteed until 2011.) Martin has opted to resign effective January 20th (Obama's inauguration day) and will take up a post at the Aspen Institute, a non-partisan think-tank. ( ... (view more)